Shares of Mortgages in Forbearance Decline in Week Ending February 7, 2021

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 6 basis points from 5.35% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 5.29% as of February 7, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased to 3.01% — a 6-basis-point improvement. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 12 basis points to 7.34%, while the forbearance shares for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) remained unchanged relative to the prior week at 9.14%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 4 basis points to 5.69%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 10 basis points to 5.26%. Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist in a prepared statement said, “The share of loans in forbearance declined to the lowest level since April 5th of last year, due to decreases in both the GSE and Ginnie Mae portfolios. Similar to the trend in recent months, the first week of February showed a faster pace of exits from forbearance compared to recent weeks, while new forbearance requests were unchanged.”